The invention relates to an on-vehicle attitude controlling device, and more particularly to an attitude controlling device for use in setting the attitude of a steering wheel.
In the field of automotive vehicles such as a passenger car, there are known tilt steering devices in which the inclination (or tilt angle in a vertical plane) of a steering wheel of a steering mechanism is electrically adjustable in an automatic manner and the steering wheel is tilted upon the actuation of a switch to fit the attitude of a driver. One of those tilt steering devices of this type is so constructed that the manipulation part can be retracted to a turned-up position (or tilt away position) exceeding a range of the normal driving attitude. In such a device, the steering wheel is retracted in response to the actuation of a retract instructing switch by the driver when he enters into or alights from the vehicle, thereby to facilitate the entering and alighting.
With the above tilt steering device such that the manipulation part of the steering mechanism is retracted to the tilt away position when the driver enters into or alights from the vehicle, the entering and alighting can be really facilitated, but it is required for the driver to actuate a switch attached on the manipulation part whenever he rides in the vehicle, thereby to return the steering wheel from its tilt away position to a driving position, and then adjust or reset the inclination of the steering wheel to a given position suitable for the driver. This adjustment is very troublesome so that the proper adjustment can not be effected in many cases.
There is also known such an attitude controlling device that is equipped with various electric control mechanisms on a driver's seat of the vehicle and makes it possible to allow the attitude of the driver's seat to accurately fit the driving attitude of the driver. However, even if the seat attitude is accurately set in position, this can not provide a valuable effect without accurate setting of the steering wheel attitude, because the latter attitude has a large influence on the driving attitude.
Moreover, the steering wheel of the vehicle is capable of being adjusted in its height, but the adjustment is usually carried out by pushing down or drawing up the steering wheel with a strong force. Therefore, it is practically impossible for the purpose of facilitating the entering and alighting to change a height of the steering wheel whenever the driver enters into or alights from the vehicle. In the case of using an automatic device that an electric elevating mechanism is coupled to the steering wheel and a height of the steering wheel is adjusted upon the actuation of a switch, the steering wheel can be automatically shifted from the retreated position allowing the easy entering and alighting to the driving position or vice versa whenever the driver enters into or alights from the vehicle. However, the manual switch operation is required for the vertical adjustment to properly reset the steering wheel from its retracted position to the driving position suitable for the driver. This adjustment is also relatively troublesome.